The Federalist Society For Law & Public Policy Studies presents:

"From Chambers to Robes: The Careers of Appellate Judges"

With The Honorable Jerry E. Smith, and a panel of his former clerks who are now judges: The Honorable Allison Eid, James Ho, and John Nalbandian.

For the first time, Judge Smith will be reunited with his three former clerks—now judges—on a panel to discuss their lives in the law.

Free Subway.

Judge Jerry E. Smith was appointed U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit by President Reagan.  He graduated from Yale University, receiving a B.A. in 1969 and a J.D. in 1972. Judge Smith was a Law Clerk to U.S. District Judge Halbert Woodward, Northern District of Texas, 1972-1973; with the Houston law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski as an Associate, 1973-1981, and as Partner, 1981-1984; and as City Attorney, City of Houston, 1984-1988.  He was Chairman, Civil Service Com­mission, City of Houston, 1982-1984; and a Director, Harris County Housing Authority, 1978-1980. He formerly was Chair of the Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Evidence of the Judicial Conference of the United States.  He assists LexisNexis/Matthew Bender & Co. in periodic revisions of several chapters of Moore’s Federal Practice.

Judge Allison H. Eid was sworn in as the 95th Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court on March 13, 2006.  Before joining the Court, Justice Eid was the Solicitor General of the State of Colorado, serving as the chief legal officer to the Colorado Attorney General and representing Colorado officials and agencies in state and federal court.   She was also a tenured Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado School of Law, teaching Constitutional Law, Legislation, and Torts, and writing on the topic of constitutional federalism.

Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Law, Justice Eid practiced commercial and appellate litigation with the Denver office of the national law firm of Arnold & Porter. In 1991, she graduated with High Honors from The University of Chicago Law School, where she was Articles Editor of The University of Chicago Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.  In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed her to serve on the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise, established by Congress in 1955 to prepare the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.  She clerked for the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas.

Judge James C. Ho was a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and co-chair of the firm’s national Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group. He has presented 50 oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide.  He has won three cases at the U.S. Supreme Court (Sause v. Bauer, 138 S. Ct. 2561 (2018), Sossamon v. Texas, 563 U.S. 277 (2011), and Thaler v. Haynes, 559 U.S. 43 (2010)).  As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee staff, he was appointed chief counsel to U.S. Senator John Cornyn and the Judiciary Subcommittees on the Constitution and Immigration.  At the Justice Department, he was a Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and an attorney-advisor at the Office of Legal Counsel.  

Judge Ho clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, Judge Ho has worked in state government, most recently as the Solicitor General of Texas, the state’s chief appellate and Supreme Court litigator.  Before law school, he was a legislative aide to California State Senator Quentin Kopp. Judge Ho has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law, senior editor of the Green Bag, co-editor of Pub. L. Misc., and vice chair of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee in Texas. 

Judge Ho graduated from Stanford University with honors and a B.A. in Public Policy, and the University of Chicago Law School with high honors.  He and his wife Allyson, a distinguished appellate litigator at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, have a twin daughter and son. 

Judge John B. Nalbandian is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 15, 2018 and received his commission on May 17, 2018. He was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump on January 23, 2018. At the time of his nomination, Nalbandian was partner in the litigation practice group of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. At the start of his legal career Nalbandian served as a law clerk to Judge Jerry E. Smith on the Fifth Circuit. He then went on to be an associate at Jones Day, where he practiced for five years.